ABDUCTED

 

JILLIAN

“Agent Doo Dah, are you there?” Jillian shook the stuffed bear she had loved ever since she was born, which is where the name Doo Dah had come from, seeing as she had only been able to say those two words. “Ouch!” she said in a deep voice. “Don’t shake me! I’m here! I’m Doo Dah the great. I’m always here for you, my agent, the true and great Jillian.” Jillian laughed as she moved the bear’s arms back and forth. She set the stuffed bear under a bush, forgetting her mom’s warnings about playing in the neighbor’s yard. She was always getting into trouble from running around the neighborhood, but she was only six years old, and the Morris’ found it amusing to watch Jillian play from the porch without her even noticing. “I can almost see the aliens! They’re so close! Stay here and wait for me to come back, and make sure they don’t go near the base. Our mud pie DNA is still in there!”

Jillian made Doo Dah nod his head before throwing leaves on Doo Dah to cover him before running down the sidewalk and turning the corner. “The aliens!” she screamed. “Aliens! They’ve come for me!” She broke a dead stick of the nearest bush and began to slam it into a tree over and over. “Stay away, you beast! I am the great and true Jillian. I’m much older than you. Why, I’m practically in first grade!” She circled the tree and lowered her voice. “You are no match for us. We are the aliens of the outer universe. We will rule the world, and you will help us!” Jillian screamed. “Oh, no! I’m being abducted!” She began to climb the tree. “You’re taking me into your outer space shuttle and I’m never going to be able to come back to earth again!” She carefully set her feet on all of the right branches, noting which ones looked dead or wobbly. She always enjoyed climbing the Paris’s trees. They had been there for years and years and were just the right size for a lanky little girl.

But just then, a butterfly with yellow wings flew right over her head. Jillian scrambled up the tree after it as it flew higher and higher, faster and faster with every beat of her heart. With every step she began to worry less about what branches were dead or not, and which ones were too thin until, as if time had stopped, Jillian gasped as her foot missed one of the branches and pictured herself tumbling down to the ground. Her entire body shook. She suddenly regretted asking Doo Dah to stay at headquarters.

“Agent Doo Dah!” she screamed. “Help! Save me!”

It was too late. Her eyes went black as her head hit the branch she had played with only minutes earlier, and everything went quiet as she blinked the world away.

DOO DAH

Was that Jillian screaming? Agent Doo Dah peeked through the hole that let him watch over headquarters. Where did she go, anyways? Oh no! Did the aliens take her?

“Jillian’s in trouble!”

Doo Dah froze. “Who’s there?” 

“I’m Jillian’s Guardian Angel, Beth.” 

When Doo Dah turned around he was bewildered at the sight of a goth looking angel. She had a black hoodie and a pair of black sneakers. She had dark grey pants and fishnet fingerless gloves. She was much taller than Jillian was and was smacking a piece of gum.

“You don’t look like much of an angel,” Doo Dah said, staring her over. “You don’t look like someone Jillian would be friends with, either. Do you live in that house?”

“Trust me, I’m usually not much of an angel, but now I have to be. I was cursed at death. You see, I died young, and I was cursed to be an angel.”

Doo Dah’s stomach dropped, feeling pity for the girl, so he said the only thing he could think of. “Well, prove it.”

The girl snapped her fingers and the hole in Doo Dah’s side stitched itself back together. She waved her hand around and all of the leaves fell off Doo Dah, and she held her hand out and Doo Dah flew to her.

“All right, you’re an angel.” Doo Dah smiled and felt his side. It had been ripped for three years, and Jillian’s mother hadn’t fixed it even though she’d been promising to since it’d gotten ripped. “And thanks for fixing that, Beth.”

“Uh-huh. Now, come here, bear. You’ll fit perfectly inside my pocket,” Beth said as she began stuffing Doo Dah’s big legs inside her sweatshirt pocket.

Doo Dah began to panic since he hated small places. He started kicking and flailing his arms like he’d seen Jillian do so many times. “Hey! The name’s Doo Dah, and I’m claustrophobic! I hate small places like your pocket, so can you wave your hand around and make me a stroller or something?”

“I am not carrying a stuffed bear around in a stroller. I’m just not that type of person, okay? I guess I can get you a leash and you can walk around on your own.” Beth waved her hands and a small black ball appeared. She began to stretch the ball into a thin rope and tied it around Doo Dah’s neck.

“Excuse me? I am a vaillant bear who can walk on his own, thank you very much. If you will wave your hand and untie this I will just have to walk on my own.” Doo Dah folded his arms and Beth untied the rope.

Beth stared at Doo Dah with his folded arms and stubborn look. “Fine. You can ride in a stroller. But it’s going to be black, just warning you.”

“Yes. Yesity yes yes yes!” Doo Dah ran around Beth’s legs until Beth held out her hand and paralized him.

She threw her hands forward and a perfect black stroller appeared. She picked up Doo Dah and set him in the stroller and began to push it around the corner Jillian had rounded earlier. 

“You’re a lot better when you’re quiet, bear.” Beth kept walking until she saw Jillian’s sword-branch. She waved her hand and Doo Dah gasped. 

“I do not appreciate being paraly-”

“Is that Jillian’s sword? Is that Jillian’s torn shirt?”

Doo Dah slid out of the stroller and picked up the rock that had been Jillian’s walkie talkie. “This is hers. And that part of a shirt’s hers too. Her favorite shirt. She had been waiting to wear it for weeks just so she could wear it on her birthday.”

Beth gasped. “That would mean today is her…” Beth trailed off mumbling to herself.

“I was ready for the party,” a voice said, “when I heard her scream. There was a man, a big one, that came and carried her off into the forest.”

Beth spun around and stared at the bushes. “Who’s there? Hello?” She took a step back as a big pink monster slid out from under the bushes. “Who’re you?”

“Uh, hello? Big pink monster that has ruffled hair? I’m Jillian’s bed monster!” The monster stood up as tall as she could. “I’m BigFoot,” guardian to the true and loyal Jillian McKnight.

“BigFoot?” Doo Dah walked over to the monster and tugged on her fur.

BigFoot yowled. “Ouch! What was that for? I’m not a toy, Doo Dah. I’m a protector,” BigFoot said, picking up Doo Dah and setting him down on Beth’s shoulders.

Doo Dah smiled. “You know my name?”

BigFoot nodded. “Jillian talked about you all of the time when you were asleep. When she couldn’t sleep, she’d call for me and I’d slide out from under the bed and talk to her. She’d tell me everything about you but she always warned me you’d be grumpy if we ever woke you up.

Beth took Doo Dah off of her shoulders and walked him over to the stroller. “Okay, BigFoot, it’s good to meet you. I’m Beth, Jillian’s Guardian Angel, and I do not like anything pink, soft, or kind, but I will try to not be hard on you because you knew Jillian. Just one warning for you: Never put anything, especially a bear, on my shoulders.”

“Nice to meet you, Beth. Now, let’s see. The last thing that Jillian said before she was taken away was that the letter was in the tree. So, if I just reach up,” BigFoot reached into the tree as if drawing tickets from a hat, “and here! A letter. It says: “Dear best friend, guardian angel, and monster under my bed, I need you to save me. You must build a rocket to fly up to the sky and reach the planet Jumbo, and break into the building Pop.

Doo Dah skipped around in circles. “Build a rocket? Break into a building on a different planet? Wowza. Well, we’re a good team. We’ve got an angel who can create things with her bare hands, a monster who’s really strong, and a bear who knows all of Jillian’s planets by heart. Let’s go!”

“When you make the rocket, can you make it big and pink? Maybe a few sparkles?” BigFoot jumped up and down, shaking some leaves off of the tree.

Beth laughed. “Big, I can do. But Pink? Sparkly? No way. Now, let’s see,” Beth said as she swirled her hands around in circles. “Let’s make it as wide as the road and as tall as two houses stacked on top of each other, and dull black.”

A rocket about as big as Beth’s hand appeared in the middle of the road.

“That’s not very big,” said Doo Dah. “You expect us to fit inside that?”

“Well, obviously not!” Beth turned her hands around. “My magic has never failed me before!”

Then, the rocket began to get bigger and bigger until it was just as big as Beth had said. There wasn’t a single spot on the rocket that wasn’t black besides the gleaming windows that surrounded the top of the rocket. It had a door with stairs attached facing them. They began to walk over to it.

“Beth! We can’t forget my stroller!” Doo Dah ran to the stroller and pushed it to beth.

Beth rolled her eyes. “I was hoping you’d forget about that stupid thing. In you go,” Beth said as she hoisted Doo Dah inside the stroller. “Wow. This rocket’s pretty cool!”

As soon as Beth followed BigFoot into the rocket and closed the door, the rocket suddenly sprang to life and took off faster than they thought possible.

“Doo Dah, you know everything about Jillian’s world! When we get into space, can we still breathe?” Beth ran over to where the stroller had rolled.

“Get me out of this!” Doo Dah was lifted out of the stroller by BigFoot. “And, yes, we will get a bubble on our heads. We can still breathe. And talk through the bubbles. But the planet I know Jillian has to be on will be cold. Me and BigFoot both have a fur coat, but you might want to make some clothes for the cold.”

“I’m an angel, remember? I’ll be fine.” Beth nodded as a bubble formed around her head.

BigFoot stuck his finger in the bubble around his head. “This bubble’s kind of sticky!” 

“If you touch it, it’ll pop and you’ll go back to earth! Make sure it fits and then leave it be,” Doo Dah said, adjusting his own bubble.

BigFoot nodded. “Okay, but where do those stairs lead?”

The three of them looked over at the winding staircase that seemed to reach the very tip of the rocket.

“Let’s find out,” Beth said as they began to climb up the tiring stairs.

BIGFOOT

“Are we almost to the top yet?” Doo Dah asked.

Beth reached out to slap him but BigFoot grabbed her hoodie and dangled her a few feet above the ground. She sighed. “I’m not going to actually hit him. You’ve climbed up ten steps. Just hundreds to go.”

“Darn.” Doo Dah slumped.

Five minutes later, they reached the top of the stairs and entered a room that had glass windows all around it.

“I’ve got to give Jillian points for this. She’s got a pretty intricate imagination.” Beth marveled at the purple planet they were flying by. Jillian suddenly ran to the other side of the rocket. “Oh, man. Is that a black planet? With a silver house on it?”

Doo Dah walked over to Beth. “That’s your planet. You know, Beth, Jillian new about you. She imagined you like no other angel.”

Beth grinned. “She never forgot about me? I remember playing with her when she was little. You would’ve been too young to remember.”

“Jillian!” BigFoot said, leaning against the glass and making the rocket tip.

Beth and Doo Dah ran to the other side. “Jillian? Where?” Doo Dah cried.

“She’s over there, to the right! But the rocket isn’t flying that way! How do we steer it towards her?” Beth looked at the rest of them. “What do we do?”

BigFoot sighed and walked to the other side of the rocket. Under his weight, it tilted and began flying to the left. “That’s it!” BigFoot cried. “If we all stand at one side of the rocket, then it will fly that way!”

They all ran towards Jillian and leaned on the glass. The rocket tilted again and began to fly towards where Jillian stood jumping up and down and waving at them.

JILLIAN

“Down here!” Jillian cried, jumping up and down and waving her hands like crazy. The rocket in the sky was all black except for the one glass window where she could glimpse her guardian angel, Beth, the monster from under her bed, BigFoot, and her best friend, Doo Dah, as it zoomed towards the planet at the speed of light.

When she’d fallen off of the tree, she had somehow flown to space. She had managed to make it to her favorite planet, Doopider. It was pink and had small hills all over. There weren’t any aliens on it and it was quiet and peaceful, just like she liked. The only thing on it was the occasional purple cat that would roam around.

“Don’t crash! The planet can’t get hurt or it’ll bounce us back to Earth-” Jillian suddenly gasped as the three adventurers jumped from the rocket. They began to dive towards her until they pulled out black parachutes. “Hurry up!” Jillian screamed as she ran where they would land in moments.

“Jillian! You’re safe!” Doo Dah ran to her as soon as he landed. “I knew we’d find you!”

“The rocket,” Jillian said. “When it crashes, any living thing on the planet will be pushed off the planet and sent back to earth. Beth! BigFoot! If we all hold hands, we’ll land together.”

As the three of them held hands and jumped off, Jillian closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes, she saw her hands slipping out of theirs and she fell alone, just like she had when she’d fallen out of the tree.

JILLIAN

“She’s moving! Jillian, can you open your eyes, baby?” 

Jillian heard voices and tried to open her eyes. “Huh? What’s going on?” When she opened her eyes, she saw purple cats on the ground from planet Doopiter, but as she blinked, the cats faded away. “Mom? Dad?”

Jillian blinked at the ceiling. When she sat up, she saw a heart monitor. She was in a white bed with an itchy blue blanket. There were two armchairs on either side of the bed that her parents were sitting in, and there was a t.v. in the corner. The beige walls and equipment on a desk in the corner made it clear to her she was in a hospital room.

“You were in a coma,” her mom said. “You were talking in your sleep. Something about needing Doo Dah,” she said Jillian’s dad handed her the small bear with the rip on his side. Someone named Beth saving you, and you were saying ‘Over here!’ over and over. But you’re awake now. Do you know what you were talking about? What were you dreaming of?”

Jillian frowned and wished it’d all been real. She wished she hadn’t fallen out of that tree and she wished she would’ve kept Agent Doo Dah with her.

“Honey, you’re okay,” her dad said. “You’re safe now.”

“I wish that dream was real,” Jillian said. “I wish that I could dream forever.”

Her mother took her hand. “Be careful what you wish for, Jil.”

“I know, mom. Can you two leave me and Doo Dah alone for a second?”

Jillian’s parents nodded and walked out of the room.

“Let’s dream that dream forever,” Jillian said in a deep voice. “I agree, Doo Dah.” Jillian closed her eyes. “Let’s dream that dream forever.”